After breaking out with Wedding Crashes and The Hangover a few years back, Bradley Cooper‘s been trying to make the transition into more dramatic roles. Which, for some reason, starts with playing shabby, dishonest writer types.

In last year’s Limitless, Cooper played a hapless copywriter who cheats his way to success with a performance-enhancing drug. In this fall’s The Words, he stars as a middling author who fakes talent by plagiarizing from a manuscript he discovers in an old briefcase. The trouble starts when Jeremy Irons enters his life, claiming to be the true author of the story. Olivia Wilde, Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana, and Ben Barnes also star. Watch the second trailer after the jump.

Like the dreams of Inception, The Words is a story about a story within a story. On the top level, there is a plot featuring Dennis Quaid and Olivia Wilde. In the middle, there’s Jeremy Irons, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana. And on the bottom, there’s Ben Barnes and Nora Arnezeder. With direction by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, the film’s structure is its second most interesting aspect. When The Words is at its best, those three tales are weaving together to speak about the decisions people make and how living with them can be the hardest thing imaginable.

The Words will be the closing night film of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Friday and while it won’t win any awards, it’s an entertaining, literature-centric story that will keep you interested and guessing. Read More »

Briefly: Given that The Words is the directorial debut of Tron Legacy screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, we probably shouldn’t be surprised that the latest addition to the film’s cast is Olivia Wilde, who was one of the only highlights of Tron. The script, which hit the Black List, is about “a successful writer who discovers he has to pay a price for stealing another man’s work.”

Bradley Cooper was recently locked to play the writer (two roles as writers, and now real-life screenwriting ambition, too!) though we don’t know how Olivia Wilde’s character relates to his. The rest of the cast is shaping up to be interesting: Jeremy Ironsplays the writer who was wronged, Dennis Quaid plays yet another wordsmith and Zoe Saldana has an unknown role. Today Ben Barnes, J.K. Simmons and John Hannah all signed on, too. A press release announces that Nora Arnezeder, who just shot Safe House, will round out the cast. Oh, and cinematographer Antonio Calvache, whose resume includes a number of seemingly unremarkable films, but also Little Children and In the Bedroom, will shoot the film. Hopefully those two films can be taken as suggestions of what to expect from The Words. [Variety]

David Hasselhoff has become the latest actor to join Piranha 3DD, the sequel to last year’s Piranha 3D (which in turn was a remake of the 1978 film Piranha). The new cast looks just as enjoyably eclectic as the last one — in addition to returning stars Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, and Paul Scheer, 3DD will also feature Katrina Bowden (30 Rock), Gary Busey (Point Break), Danielle Panabaker (The Crazies), David Koechner (Anchorman) and Matt Bush (Adventureland).

Here’s the plot synopsis — not that the premise is terribly difficult to figure out:

There’s something in the water . . . again. And this time no one is safe from the flesh eating fish as they sink their razor sharp teeth into the visitors of the best summer attraction, The Big Wet Water Park.

Piranha 3DD is currently shooting in Wilmington, NC under the direction of John Gulager (Feast). The film will open November 23, 2012. [The Hollywood Reporter]

After the jump: A plagiarizer, an Italian bird scientist, and a host of Hollywood stars.